Behind the Moonlight
by Lucifenia
Summary: Nakajima Atsushi is different. Not even ability users can be compared to the existence that is himself. But when he rescues a man from drowning, he is intruiged and amused. Drawn into a world of powerful ability users he must choose to use his powers to protect his new found friends and allies, or allow his existence to vanish like all the rest of his breathen. (Discontinued)
1. Chapter 1

Atsushi feels dead on his feet. It was late evening and he was close to collapsing, having been alternatively walking, running and hiding without stop for the past few days. This, added to the fact that he has only a thin shirt and pants as clothes had earned him a slight fever while his lack of shoes had his feet blistered and bleeding. Athough his injuries are already rapidly healing. It was only his stubbornness and determination, combined with his insane stamina that made him reach this far.

Or at least to the furthest place he can get.

The eighteen year old grimaced and sunk to the ground once the ache of his body from the extreme abuse got too much for him to tolerate. He was tired, hungry, and hurting. Three extremely dangerous combinations for the silver-haired and hetrochromia lilac-gold coloured eyed teen. But Atsushi couldn't bring himself to care. Especially with his current freedom feom those chasing after him.

He stared at the glistening water surface of the river that ran through Yokohama. Despite the strong stench of sewage water, Atsushi still sat in silence.

'It seems like I have no choice',the teen mussed with an annoyed sigh. 'I would have to steal from someone.'He hated how he had to resort to crime just to keep himself alive. Sure, it was the lowest in the list of crimes he had done. But still, it left a bad taste in his mouth mainly because it was so simple that anyone would be willing to do it.

At the sound of something approaching, Atsushi raised his head tiredly, only to see a motorbike zooming past for the first time. The second time, it was a military unit running past in perfect lines and dressed in full uniform, discouraging him even more. But it was when a man floated down the river like a bobbing toy duck with his legs sticking out at an awkward angle that Atsushi finally gave up on his attempt at crime.

Of course, there was another problem; the man was currently drowning.

Atsushi closed his eyes, trying to ignore the man. He had no desire to play hero. Nor did he want to deal with all the fanfare that comes with saving someone. So, no, he really doesn't want to do anything much less force his already exhausted body to move and hence injuring himself further.

He risked a glance at the legs that stuck out of the water like a warning flag. He could already imagine the crooning and the cawing of the crows at the dead body. It niggled his instinct. Every fibre of his being screamed at him to do something. With something being to save the man, despite his extreme reluctance.

Atsushi started cursing. Vicious, long and colourful, with a number of different languages in a mixed variety. He dove into the water in the next second, despite his initial disgust at the stench. It didn't take more than two minutes before Atsushi was back on the bank, tossing the man onto the ground onto his back. He was wet, stank of sewage and was still hungry, in pain and extremely tired. In conclusion, he was not too happy with his current predicament. But his concern for the man pushed the turbulence of his emotions back to the back of his mind for the time being.

Grimacing at the ache in his bones and the state of his only clothes, he watched carefully as the body,the man?,snapping open his eyes as he sat up slowly like a broken wind-up doll.

"Um", Atsushi begun to speak, only to pause when the man swung around to face him.

"I made it", he blinked, seemingly stunning. Only to change his expression to one of annoyance as he clicked his tongue with a loud 'cheh'. "Were you the one who interrupted my submersion?"

Atsushi stared blankly at the man. "Excuse me?", he deadpan, his eye twitching at the response. Gods, he hoped that the man wasn't some insane asylum patient on the lose. He had more than enough of dealing with their kind. Although it was kind of hypocritical of him to say so.

"You don't know what I mean by that? I was trying to commit suicide." He rose to his feet in a swift motion without a care in the world as he slid his hands into his pockets.

Atsushi felt a headache coming. "Suicide", he repeated in a flat tone of voice, even if his hackles raised up at the mention of it. He thought of a boy, small and petite, with soulless eyes like a broken doll. He remember his sobbing, even when he screamed and thrashed and howled, so red with blood. And he remembers him finally smiling as those small hands tore into the small body to reveal a bloodly mess of organs.

Atsushi did not know what expression his face had taken, but the man's expression soften, smoothing into a small smile. "Well, my intent is to pursue a clean, pure suicide - one that imposed on no one.", Atsushi's twitched, feeling the slow stirring of his demon at the word again but quickly pushed it back to the depths of his mind. "And yet, you were nonetheless entangled. Let me apologize."

Atsushi didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, even as a low growled filled the air, it is either his stomach in protest of the lack of food for the past months, or his demon in anger at the carelessness of one's life. 'No, not the demon.The tiger',he thought.Atsushi was reminded of a powerful creature that lurkes within his mind, alongside with his other one. The White Tiger of the West, it was called, known worldwide as the guardian of the west. A near indestructible beast with fur as white as snow and black stripes across its body. A beast that tore through villages and cities, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake along with a trail of bodies. He had long given up trying to contain the monstrous beast and allowed it to roam free every month. It was a big mistake.

He was interrupted of his dark thoughts when the other man's spoke up.

"Are you hungry, boy?" The man snickered. Atsushi twitched, his expression twisting into a frown. But he did not refute the man. He was not a boy. He had long been living in darkness to be called a boy, who suggests to be naive and innocent. Atsushi had lost his innocence long before he could remember.

"Well, it is a human body of which that hadn't been fed for weeks, so what do you think?" Atsushi commented with slight sarcasm. At the same time, the man's stomach growled as well.

"How strange. So am I", the man comment with a tilt of his head.

Atsushi raised a brow at the man, despite deciding to be polite and ignore it. As he looked at the man, he wonders what he sees. A thin ragged boy with flimsy scraps of clothing, broken, tired and bleeding with only a precious silver choker inlaid with rubies and obsidian that was probably stolen. Or is it the true nature of his warring monsters that lived within his soul and his mind, threatening to tear his sanity apart. He wouldn't pass it off the man. He had a glint in his eyes, so familiar and haunting, that spoke of the highest of intellegence despite his childish words. And the more he studied the man, the more he took note of. Like the numerous bandages that covered the man's skin beneath his clothes. That his eyes are the eyes of a dead man walking, having lost his purpose a long time ago but still surviving solely for his cause.

"Unfortunately, the river seems to have washed away my wallet." He spoke in a slightly deadpan voice, as if he had known what Atsushi was thinking.

Atsushi stared and resisted the urge to snarl. His own demon - not the tiger he loves and hates in equal measure - rumbles its annoyance within his mind. But strangely, Atsushi did not sense that it wanted to tear the man apart like it did for so many of his enemies. Instead, it felt quite fond of the man, he realized with a start. Curious, Atsushi allowed to to surface, only barely hiding it under his pale skin, for the first time in months.

The demon hissed in pleasure, sluggish from being supressed for so long yet powerful despite the lack of nutrition. Atsushi felt it peering out from his own eyes, intellegent and sadistic andpowerfulin nature as opposed to the animalistic side of the tiger. He fears its power, destructive and chaotic if unleashed. More so than his tiger is capable of causing. But he had long accepted it as his own half, like an extended limb. He learnt to control it, wielding it like he does with his own weapons, with ease and precision long ingraned in his muscle memory.

Atsushi saw his vision sharpening, the world's colours dulling slightly as another, different source of colours flared into existence. These colours are vivid and writhing andalive, like the flames that leaped and danced under the glow of the sun. It flared every so often under Atsushi's watchful eye. The soul of a person is always beautiful thing to watch, with swirls of various colours that made up a person. Their emotions, their thoughts, and their whole being made up the colours that formed around the person like a fire that shrouded the person in a protective embrace.

But the soul of the man before Atsushi was like no other that he had seen before. It was a gentle aquamarine blue, swirling like a galaxy with little specks of dark purple and hues of light emerald green along with strands of black criss crossing the galaxy of colours. But what had caught the teen's attention wasn't the colours but the fact that the man has various streaks of silver in his aura. Silver, which meant that the man before him wasn't any ordinary human. He is an ability user.


	2. Chapter 2

Eighteen year old Nakajima Atsushi felt like cursing fate, destiny and everything in between.

At the realization of the man possessing supernatural 'skill', Atsushi nearly cursed up a storm. Only for him to held his tongue in a excellent show of self-control.

He wanted to run and hide somewhere in the darkness. Or at least in a ditch.

He had long made a habit of avoiding all and every single one of the ability users. Often he succeeds, mostly by fleeing and hiding with the help of his ability. But more recently there was a sharp increase in the numbers of his pursuers, mafia mostly, but he always ends up surround by empty bullet casings, blood and dead bodies strewn across the area. As uusual.

"DAZAI!" The loud shout jolted the teen out of his shock. He whirled around and quickly shoved his two beings of power back into the back his mind, also cutting off the usage of his own ability. The tiger growled in anger, wanting to rise up to fight. On the other hand, his own demon merely retreated obediently, only bristling in its annoyance at the refusal to engage in combat.

"Is this where you've been, you stupid bastard!"

"Oi~ Kunikida-kun! Thanks for coming!" The man, Dazai, waved cheerfully. He seems to ignore, or didn't realize how furious the other man was. Although Atsushi doubted that the man is ignorant, what with glint of cunning he sees in the man's eyes. 'Not a predator', he hears his tiger whispers in wariness. 'But something close.' Atsushi tensed. The tiger had only said that about a single person. And it hadn't ended well. For both of them.

However, his demon had growled in approval, excited and gleeful. 'Mine', it whispers, 'mine mine mineminemineminemine.' And that thrown Atsushi even off kilter. His demon hadneverliked anyone. Even with his other kin sibilings, the others who are so similar to him that they became a family.

"You have subjected me to a great deal of grief, you suicidal obsessed maniac! Why must you constantly ruin my plans!" The man Atsushi assumes as Kunikida snarled in anger, thankfully diverting the teen's attention elsewhere than the fact that his beast had literally claimed the suicidal man. The teen watched the other man warily, sensing rather than seeing the man's mounting anger.

"Ah!" The man, Dazai perked up. "I just have the greatest idea! Why not let him feed us?" He jerked his thumb at the blond man on the opposite bank.

Atsushi blinked. Then he sighed softly just as a roar came from the other bank.

"Listen to me, you!"

"So what's your name, young man?"

Lilac-gold eyes locked onto the man's brown gaze. The teen contemplated his choices, only to have his decision made for him as the wind blew towards him, bringing the muted scent of gunpowder and jasmine hidden under the stench of sewage. He smiled slightly, "Nakajima Atsushi", the name, now spoken out loud, felt foreign on both his tongue and ears. It was his birth name. But he had long forgotten the sentiments it held and how it sounded when spoken out loud. It was merely a marker, a reference to himself that he had long been forced to cast aside for his true name. Andgod help anyoneif he were to speak of it.

"So, Atsushi-kun what sort of food do you crave?"

Atsushi thinks of his kin sister, Iskra's cooking, made with love and care in the times that she can, and wonders if there are any restaurants that sells Pirozhki. It had became a quick favourite among themselves, made with the simplest of ingredients. But Japan was isolationist in many ways and the dish originated from too far away.

At the same time, he was also reminded of chazuke when a woman took pity on him and brought him to her home. A simple dish made with leftover rice and reheated tea with a small side of whatever dried laver and pickled radishes. It was warmth and safety, a comfort in the cold of the night.

"Um... well, some chazuke would be nice", Atsushi admitted with a hint of a wistful smile.

Dazai stared at the teen. The he burst out laughing. "A child mere inches from death and he wants to eat some chazuke? Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ok then, I'll have Kunikida to treat you to thirty bowls if you like."

"Don't be so generous with my money, Dazai!" The shout was ignored by the man. But Atsushi could help but feel bad that someone would be wasting so much money on him, despite his slight amusement at his current predicament.

"So, your name is Dazai?" Atsushi inquired curiously as he got up to follow the man, stretching out the kinks in his muscles, having healed nicely while they were talking.

"Yeah. My name is Dazai, Dazai Osamu." He smiled down at the teen.

The restaurant that he was brought to was a traditional Japanese tea house. It gave off a homey and warm atmosphere. But to the teen, it felt weird and foreign. He was not used to it, causing him to become more wary and alert.

"We have to get back to work, Dazai", Kunikida spoke as he tapped his fingers on the table in irritation. Between the three of them, it was the only other sound other than the sounds of the teen devouring all 34 plates of chazuke.

"What type of fool says 'Oh what a nice river' and dives in headlong in the middle of work?! Now look at what you've done. We are hideously behind schedule."

"You do love your appointment books, don't you Kunikida-kun."

"It is not an appointment book! These are my ideals!! The precepts that guide my entire life! And nowhere does it advise partnering with a suicidal aficionado!"

Atsushi listened in absentminded interest as he ate, taking care to be more polite and civilized as he ate instead of just stuffing his mouth full of food like a barbarian. Despite having devoured 34 bowls and nearing the 35th, Atsushi still felt hungry, his demon and tiger clawing and demanding for more. But it would be enough to sustain him for a short while. Or at least until he get out of the city to find more of his normal diet.

It was only when Kunikida slammed his hand on the table that he actually attentively listened to the mismatched duo.

"The military police assigned us to coral a ferocious beast! We don't have time to entertain homeless people!"

"A ferocious beast?" The teen questioned, taken aback, as soon as he swallowed his mouthful of food. He doesn't know why but at that phrase, his tiger had tensed with a low, frightened snarl that got stuck in his throat as the teen was forced to swallow it back down. "What kind of job do you do? Are you exterminators? Or maybe animal control?" And Atsushi really hoped that they are. He doesn't want to deal with any more hunters out for his head.

"Of course not", Dazai cut in, sounding extremely offended, "we are detectives."

Atsushi stared, blank faced in incomprehension and slight disbelief. He could not imagine how the two would be anything like militia much less detectives, who were partners. They seem like an odd duo incapable of working togetger. But Atsushi knew better than to judge the pair, especially if it is like him and Iskra, an odd mismatched pair clashing like fire and ice yet working like a well oiled machine once partnered up.

"And when he says that ... he doesn't mean we hunt down runaway cats or wayward spouses. Our domain is in the line of ... more dangerous works." Kunikida explained, hand trailing to his lap. Atsushi shifted at the man's movement, his body lax against the chair but muscles tensed, ready to bolt if needs demans it. He couldn't count how many times it was a specific move to draw out their weapons or tools for hurting, having been strapped to their thighs or hips for easier access. Atsushi didn't really want to hurt these people. Not unless they made a move against him anyway.

"Have you heard of the 'Armed Detective Agency', home to those with unusual abilities?" Kunikida's voice dragged Atsushi's attention from planning out the numerous possible escape routes he had seen the moment the teen stepped into the restaurant. The only thing left was to see if it was possible for him to escape without being caught.

Atsushi thinks for a moment. He hasn't been in the country for long. Only two years since the last of his rescues left for the big world. And only a few moments in between his odd and haphazard travelling while he was intheirclutches. In addition to being hunted as often as him, his instincts never let him stay long in a place. But among his most recent travels there have been whispers among the darker areas that he was alternatively living in, with low class motels and expensive as shit hotels in the mix. And through that, he had heard a few things. The Armed Detective Agency is a detective company that specialized in hazardous work too dicey for the military or police to handle. A group standing on the twilight, ruling over the threshold between the worlds of day and night. And from what the teen had concluded, a number its members at least possess some kind of supernatural 'skill'. That probably would explain why Dazai's aura possess a silver tint. And the fact that he feels more dangerous than the normal person.

He knows that he can at least handle himself if worst came to worst and he had to fight. But he would have preferred to hide his abilities a little while longer.

"Oh", Dazai exclaimed as he glanced up above the ceiling, "that piece of lintel looks rather sturdy. I'd wager it is able to hold a person's weight."

"Stop gauging opportunities to prepare a noose at every tea hourse we visit!" Kunikida snapped angrily as Atsushi watched on in stunned amazement and slight amusement.

"Honestly, do you have no concept in the merit of the neck stretch. It's quite good for your health."

"Oh. I see." The man quickly opened his book and jotted down what the other man was saying.

Dazai leaned against his seat, his face turning away from his partner. "I'm joking." He suddenly spoke with a deadpan voice.

Atsushi twitched when Kunikida finally snapped, along with his pen. The man shot to his feet and lunged at the bandaged man with the ferocity of a pissed off bear. His hand wrapped around Dazai's neck and squeezed, strangling the man as he shook him like a rag doll.

And not for the first time since he had met Dazai, Atsushi regretted following the man for all the chaos that had happened since then.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, what exactly is the case you are working on?" Atsushi cut in when Kunikida doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon. The man paused, releasing Dazai and sat down again to Atsushi's relief. But it didn't last for long.

"We are looking for a tiger", Kunikida announced as if it was an everyday occurrence and Atsushi could help but tensing up. It was minute, mere tightening of his grip on the chopsticks that came with the chazuke, but he noticed, to his surprise, that Dazai's eyes sharpened in interest at his reaction. But Kunikida seemed to not notice it as he adjusted his glasses.

"There have been reports of a man-eating tiger that have been particularly destructive running around. He have been destroying warehouses and food supplies, not to mention racked up quite a body count", at that, Atsushi felt some primal pleasure which was soon echoed by his tiger and demon. "Normally it wouldn't be our job, but it seems impossible to catch it and everyone that had been assigned to it had turned up dead or missing. It needs a ... special touch, so to speak and thus we were called in."

"Apparently it had been recently sighted near this district...", Dazai trailed off.

Atsushi folded his hands on his lap, taking care to show none of the signs of wariness and aggression that the tiger was feeling. It was rare that he forgets anything from the time he was a tiger. Which is how he remembers the taste of blood in his mouth, the feeling of bones snapping as he bit down on flesh and the feeling of tearing through men as he tore through paper with his claws. Despite it being people that he had killed, often mafia and the militia, he couldn't find himself to feel guilty or regretful. It has been long beaten into him not to feel remorse for the dead or for killing, for that matter. In addition to that, all of those who came after him had either been idiots or greedy pigs with the aim of tranquilizing him instead of just outright killing him. Honestly, it had just caused them an early death and more food into his beast's diet.

"And what do you intend to do once you capture this tiger?" Atsushi inquired, and for a moment, he wondered if this could be the chance that he would finally be captured.

"Well, we have been ordered to put it down." Dazai replied with a shrewd glance. The real order have been to capture it alive and sedated so that it can be used in experimentation. But if his suspicions were right, then he can't afford to reveal that to the boy.

Atsushi exahled and relaxed slightly, just as his beast whispered, 'Liar'. He ignored his demon but took its words to heart. Instead, he wondered if the man, whose hands were stained with so much blood that he could still smell the death on his hands, would go through with his words. He wonderes if he would even attempt it. To kill him, like all the others that hunted him.His beast laughed, cold and cruel. 'I would like to see him try.' It whispered in a taunting croon, as always whenever the teen had tried to off his life in a moment of desperation and sheer tiredness of life. He hears the ring of truth in his beast's words, having lost count of his fifty sixth try to kill himself or dying by enemy fire, only to be brought back either by the tiger's regeneration, or his beast's power. At first to his fury, but later to his amusement and entertainment when he would just rise up again after his killers believed him dead. 'You will never succeed.'

The teen wonders if he should tell them the truth. His tiger had been causing a lot of damage, as had he along with his own demon. So many lives lost to his hand. And even more cities, organization or countries ruined, destroyed,obliterated, that he had already lost count early in the process. Honestly, he seriously was due a long needed vacation from all the hunters out for his head.

A small smile of anumsement curled at the teen's lips. "It is quite a beast. Are you sure you can handle it?" He tilted his head in question.

"Well of course", Kunikida spoke, "we were trained to handle these kinds of things."

Atsushi hummed and wondered if this can be considered suicide. "Well, I may know where the tiger is going to turn up", he admitted.

"I see", Dazai commented. He studied the boy before him, eyes like the sunset. Eyes that seemed to hide something darker in nature. He suddenly turned towards Kunikida, holding out a folded piece of paper as he spoke, "Kunikida-kun, please deliver this to the boss back at the office."

"Hey... you're going to hunt it down? We need to verify this intel first."

"It's fine, it's fine", Dazai assured with a mysterious, knowing smirk.

Atsushi merely watched in silent contemplation. He knows that the man could not face against him on his own much less with a whole army, but his tiger is another matter. And if the tiger was already weary of the man, then he was sure that they could probably capture or kill it with ease, leaving him a period of rest before he would get out of the city again.

He takes Dazai to one of the warehouses that lined the port, leaving Kunikida as he went back to the office. He had scouted out the place the first day he arrived in Yokohama, knowing that it was big enough for him to shift without damaging anything. In addition to that, people rarely wander around the area, making it the optimal place for Atsushi to train his abilities. His tiger had snarled in protest, but it soon quieten in a disheartened chuff at the loud growl from his demon.

When the teen asked about the back up, the man smiled mysteriously and assured the teen that it will be along soon enough. Atsushi wonder in amusement if he should be scared or disappointed. From experience, back up wasn't really much helpful in containing the tiger unless they were already there. Well, not unless the person is seriously powerful and dangerous like the one that his tiger had said about not being a predator. The tiger was fast, and extremely powerful that one swipe of its paws was able to crush a military grade tank. The only thing that had been able to hold it off for the few minutes to allow Atsushi to take control again was his demon. And it rarely does for only the sake of the amusement that comes with the tiger destroying everything.

"Suit yourself", Atsushi hummed before falling silent. It was drawing closer to midnight, and the moon was slowly rising higher in the sky by the time the two entered the warehouse. Atsushi could feel the eagerness of the tiger, its muscles that lurked under his skin tensing in anticipation, its claws scraping the insides of his fingernail. But most of all, he could hear his demon laughing with sadistic amusement as it allowed the tiger control. Sometimes, it even urged the animalistic side of the tiger, causing even more chaos during his monthly shifts.

"So, how did you come to know where the tiger would be?"

Atsushi had been expected the answer ever since they left the tea house. He was only surprised that the man lasted this long. He walks over to the crates that were pushed up against the back room, hiding behind the shadows. He stopped before it and climbed up the stack to curl up on one of the crates. He could feel Dazai's gaze on him, still watching as he waited for an answer. And he decides to buy himself time.

"I used to live in an orphanage", Atsushi admits, reminded of a past he'd rather forget. But he didn't really want to lie to the man, strangely enough. "It was a small one out in the countryside. There were a few of us, and money was tight. But we made do."

Dazai was still listening, eyes sharpening in interest at the teen's words.

"When I was kicked out, I was already the last of the orphans." He stared into the air with empty eyes, lost in memory. "So I traveled. I wandered around spending most of my time in back alleys and warehouses looking for a place to sleep. I found this place quite by accident. I broke in last night for someplace to sleep and saw it sleeping in the corner. I thought that it might come back."

Dazai smiles, amused and almost fond, "You're lying."

Atsushi turns to face the man, still hidden in the shadows despite the moon glowing brightly, high in the sky. Then he smiles, sad and melancholy with a hint of bitterness. "I am." For a moment, he thought of stopping. He liked the man, even if he only had been his latest entertainment. But that moment passed. And he steps into the moonlight.

The effect was instantaneous. He could feel the power as the tiger surged to the forefront of his mind during the change and pushed his conscious back alongside his demon. He felt his bones lengthen and shift, his skin trading for fur, and his mouth filling with the teeth of a predator under the cover of the light emitted during his shift. From there, it was as if he had taken a back seat in his body, as always, while his demon howled its glee. And the only sound that rang out loud in the silence of the night, was the thunderous roar of the White Tiger.


	4. Chapter 4

"As Kunikida had said, the Armed Detective Agency is a collective of individuals with certain abilities. Though hardly public knowledge, some people in this world possess otherworldly abilities. Some use those skills to earn their keep in life... While others, unable to master those gifts, come to ruin by them."

Atsushi listened as Dazai spoke, sealed within his own mind while his body transformed. And he laughs, bitter and melancholy. 'Ruin? I was already ruined long before when I tried to use it for good. It was me trying to earn my keep with my own gift that led me to ruin.' Atsushi hissed in anger. His tiger semed to sensed his anger becaused it lunged forwards with a roar, swiping its paws at Dazai. On the other hand, his demon was silent but Atsushi could feel it seething in fury at the reminder. At its loss and entrapment.

He watched with a strange sense of uncaring detachment, even as the man came close to dying at the paws of his tiger, the one sole ability he had no control over, so used to letting it rampage that he had lost all ability to fully control it. Instead, all his control was shifted to focus on supressing his demon, the creature of horror and destruction more powerful than any being on earth that could never be let out lest he loses control.

"Well, this is a doozy. He could easily take off a man's head." Dazai muttered as he leaped out of the way with an agility and speed that impressed Atsushi. If the teen wasn't sure before, then he was certain that the man had been, in some way, a dangerous figure within some sort of army or organization. It made Atsushi even more curious of the man, if he wasn't before.

The tiger leaped to attack again, claws ready and muscles tensed as it slammed paws first into the concrete ground, creating a crater and causing dust to fly up everywhere. Dazai had just nearly dodged the attack, skidding back to get as far as possible from the tiger.

"Oops", the man mumbled as he was backed into a corner between the wall and the tiger, Atsushi was sure that it would be the end of the charade.

He was right. But it wasn't the blood filled ending he had expected.

Dazai's eyes sharpened, almost glaring in their intensity as he looked at the tiger as if it wasn't a beast capable of tearing him apart, as if it was a weak kitten trying to be a lion it is not. "Death at the claws of a mad predator does possess a certain appeal... But sadly you cannot kill me." The words were stated with such confidence that even Atsushi's demon perked up in interest. The man's hands that have been kept in his pocket the whole time rose up, elegant with long fingers and wrapped in bandages up to his arms. He reached out and lightly touched the tiger's forehead, a mere whisper of contact, just as it leaped for the man. "My power allows me to nullify the gifts wielded by others with merely just a touch."

Atsushi could only feel pain as he was pushed to the front of his mind and his body dropped to the floor. The tiger retreated, an icily furious presense in the back of his mind while his demon purred its amusement and interest at the man with the nullification ability. The teen could feel his body warring between the two states of a human and an animal, the lines blurring as a compulsion urged him to turn into the tiger but was unable to. His bones shift in minute fragments before settling, expanding and contracting with the forceful return to his human body. He hissed and groaned, nails that were partway through transformation of tiger and human scraping aginst concrete while he flexed his fingers at the agony.

"You knew", Dazai stated once Atsushi opened his eyes to a fuzzy shiloutte.

He whined, a low rumbling sound of the tiger's but replied with a hoarse choking sound, "Yes."

"I'm surprised."

Atsushi managed out a laugh as he peered up at the man. "The tiger is me, just as I am the tiger", was the reply. But it was strange and harsh, the soft, lilting voice of the teen turned smooth and cold. Dazai could feel goosebumps erupting across his skin, the words feeling like ice water dripping over him. He took a step back, unsure at the otherworldly tinge of sinister filled echoing tone. But when the teen spoke again, it was gone, making the man wonder if he had imagined it at all.

"Why?"

"Well, I did mention that I was going to kill you. That generally would have people running in the other direction." Dazai moved closer, peering curiously at the teen and Atsushi wondered if he would do the same if he knew how much of a danger he actually was if he had lost control over his demon. And he nearly did when the pain made his demon slip out past his words.

"But you wouldn't", Atsushi huffs, climbing unsteadily to his feet, his clothes ripped by the transformation but still hung onto his body. Like always. His muscles ached with something fierce, but he ignored it and let it heal with the tiger's regeneration.

Dazai blinks in surprise, "No, I wouldn't. But how did you know that?"

Atsushi smiles, a small curl of his lips. "Because I was the one who pulled you out of the river", he rasped, deciding to just settle with something simple to reply. He knew that it wasn't the answer the man was looking for. But it was enough reason for him to believe that he himself was at least aware of the dangerous man.

"Ah, but just because I wanted to die by my own hands doesn't mean that I want to by by the hands of others", Dazai spoke, clearly amused.

Atsushi laughs. "Or that you believe that you can't die." He had met these kind of people before, so sure of themselves that it turned out to be their downfall.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because people who often faced the tiger usually believes that they couldn't be killed. So sure in victory that they never thought that the beast could kill them." The clouds shifted and the moonlight seemed the focus on the teen again, to his consternation. He hears his tiger growling, surging to his forefront of his mind while his body started shifting. But he quickly suppresses it, tightening his control on the tiger while letting his hold on the demon losened.

That was a mistake.

At the minute silver of chance, his demon surged forward but thankfully not taking over. It at least had the mind not to do so and reveal itself. But it fiercely affected Atsushi whose vision began to blur with colours and various shades of life force, intermingled with various shades near the edges to signify various things about the person. It was more focused than the small silver of power that he used this afternoon, which allowed Atsushi to see the man's aura with more clarity. The blue of his aura was brighter than ever, clearly with darker and lighter shades of blue than he'd initially thought. Along with it, his black streaks were clearly more of an iridescent in colour, while the hues of purple are not specks but glowing stars like the real ones in the night sky and the light emerald greens are small camillias with petals edged with crimson red. It was stunning and otherworldly enough for a human that Atsushi felt his breath caught in his throat in sheer awe.

"And how did it work out for the others?" Dazai's voice interrupted Atsushi through his muddled thoughts but allowed the teen to focus on the man again.

Atsushi locked eyes with the man with a past so tainted with blood. He tilted his head a gave the man a slight smile, haunting in its beauty as well as its intent. "Not very well, usually", he added the last part, amused that a person had finally entertained him. It was enough that Atsushi couldn't bring himself to kill the man who knew the secret if his tiger, not that he knew the true significance of it.

He could tell that the man was also intruiged by him. His aura was, after all, flaring up into a light pinkish red near the edges. It signified an intrest, one which Atsushi was sure his aura would be currently mimicking.

His demon purred in content and before Atsushi could stop it, the beast reached out a part of their aura, as black as the obsidian that lined the choker on his throat. It shimmered like a piece of cloth made of stars and was dotted with glowing blood red roses that were surrounded by tendrils of indigo branches of throns. But between the hues of colours, there was also a flicker of light blue that paced between the folds of the brambles and roses while threads of silver wrapped itself around the branches like ribbons. When it made contact with Dazai's own, the pain in his body that was slowly fading was suddenly replaced with a sudden throbbing headache.

'What the hell are you doing!?', Atsushi cried out, alarmed despite that it had no effect on the man, who was still peering curiously at the teen.

'He is ours!' Was the hissed reply of his demon. And Atsushi, with only the barest control over it while he is holding tightly onto the leash of his tiger could only watch in horrified fascination as a small part of his aura suddenly broke away to merge with the man's aura. He had only managed a strangled keening sound before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body dropped to the ground. The last thought of the teen was how screwed he was before the excruciating and unbearable pain of tearing his aura, his soul and life force knocked him into unconsciousness.


End file.
